August 9, 2011, - 5:05 pm
From the Temple to the Holocaust & Hezbollah: The 9th of Av, a Tragic Day in History
Today is “Tisha B’Av,” or the Ninth Day of Av (Av is a Hebrew month on the Jewish calendar)–a Jewish fast day, which marks the end of three weeks of deprivation, sacrifice, and mourning. To all of my Jewish friends and readers who are observing the fast, have an easy one. Hopefully, G-d is listening to us and noting our sacrifice and repentance.
You won’t hear us complaining the way Muslims do about fasting, how hot it is, and how hungry they are.
(Graphic from Not Quite Perfect blog in 2007)
Our fasts are much tougher and longer. I’ve been fasting since sundown last night, and the fast ends tonight at nightfall. We do not eat, drink, take showers, etc. for over 25 hours. Jewish fasts mean absolutely no eating, drinking, bathing (no showers), shaving, haircuts, laundry, washing, swimming, make-up wearing, sex, wearing of leather shoes, music, or entertainment. . . . (We usually eat a bigger meal before the fast, which makes it harder because it expands your stomach, though that’s generally required for the Yom Kippur fast and not this one.) Also, no lip balm, which is a tough habit for me to break.
But this is my religion. I chose to do it and am proud to do it. I contrast that with recent Detroit front-page newspaper articles about how tough it is for Muslims. So sad, too bad. Take off your black head covering and start eating. And stop complaining to me. Religion is about sacrifice, not whining and demanding strangers’ sympathy for something you picked as your path in life. And in that spirit, I describe to you what Tisha B’Av is: a tragic day in Jewish history. But I don’t need anyone’s pity that I’m spending the day without food or drink. That’s the easy part. Reflecting on the day in a meaningful way is what’s tougher.
As I’ve previously noted, Tisha B’Av is a day on which five major tragedies occurred to the Jewish people. It marks the destruction of the Jewish Temples–both of them and many other tragedies in Jewish history, which all occurred on this day in the Jewish calendar. On Tisha B’Av in 1492, the Jews were officially expelled from Spain. Tisha B’Av 1914 (August 1, 1914) was the day World War I broke out, setting the stage for World War II and the Holocaust. On the eve of Tisha B’Av 1942, the Nazis’ mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto began. Most were sent to their deaths at the Treblinka Nazi death camp. Just after Tishah B’Av 1994 concluded, Hezbollah and Iran bombed the Jewish community center of Buenos Aires (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina), Argentina, killing 86 and wounding at least 300 others.
In 1942, many American Catholic priests and Christian ministers participated in the holiday, fasting along with their Jewish-American friends. It was reported in TIME Magazine. And I wrote about it here.
More on Tisha B’Av at Judaism 101 and My Jewish Learning.
And it comes close to muhammadan celebrations of the Badr massacre, where the enemy first slaughtered their own families, in the “cause of allah.” Disregard what is said about “iftar” celebrations; animals slaughtered for same represent the utter valueless of human and family life of a disbeliever (al-kafirun) of the arab murder cult.
BTW:
Hindus point to the origins of the term “muslim.” Older English language accounts use the term musulman. In sanskrit, “manas” means “folk” (people from a specific region). “Musul” refers to “projectiles” and is the root of our word, “missile.” Early Hindus referred to the people of what is now the “arabian peninssula” as “musulman” because according to Hindu tradition. their “storm gods” of the Vedic period, missed local targets and their missives landed on the peninsula, causing it to be near void of vegetation. Maybe we should give the peninsula to the Hindus.
Jack Mutt on August 9, 2011 at 5:19 pm